The severity of a state’s alcohol-impaired driving problem doesn’t predict its new laws on the subject—neither does the political makeup of the state government.
A new study finds that the two strongest predictors of states adopting their first drunk-driving laws were having a large population of young people and a neighboring state with similar driving laws.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Public Health, suggest that state lawmakers look at factors both within their states as well their neighboring states when considering new driving laws.
“Although we did not find the overall traffic-related fatality rate to predict policy adoption, the size of the population ages 15 to 24 years—the group most at risk for death and injury from impaired driving—was associated with first time policy adoption, suggesting that states might be initially more receptive to regulation when it involves protecting younger populations,” says study author Diana Silver, associate professor of public health at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and the NYU College of Global Public Health.
